Do not adopt postures, suppress your senses,or restrict your speech, for there is nothing to do or to seek.

*

Ultimate reality, the meaning underlying everything, is unborn.With the awareness that concepts and characteristics are likewise unborn,not a single thought process stirring in the mindever diverges from its unborn state.

*

What is tangible and what is intangible are equal in basic space,buddhas and ordinary beings are equal in basic space,relative reality and ultimate reality are equal in basic space,flaws and positive qualities are equal in basic space,and all directions—above, below, and in between—are equal in basic space.Therefore, whatever display arises from that naturally occurring state,even as it arises, things arise equally, none being better or worse.What need is there to accept or reject them by applying antidotes?When things abide, they abide equally, none being better or worse.Whatever is now taking place in your mind, rest in natural peace.When things are free, they are equally free, none being better or worse.In the wake of being conscious of them, do not continue to suppress or indulge in them.

​*

In the same way, all things—the tangible and the intangible, buddhas and ordinary beings, relative reality and ultimate reality, flaws and positive qualities—are equal in that they are all unborn within the basic space of awareness. They are equal in that they simply manifest continuously. And they are equal in that, even as they manifest, they are nonexistent, being clearly apparent expressions of emptiness. This is similar to the fact that, while you can distinguish among directions—above, below, cardinal, intermediate—they are equal in the realm of space.

(Pages 243-244)

"Nothing strays from awakened mind."

"None of the sounds in your present waking state exist as something 'other,' outside the context of awareness."

"In actuality thoughts are without any basis or foundation...even as they manifest in your consciousness, they have never known existence."

"Since samsara and nirvana do not stray from the single state of awareness, if this single awareness is free, then all samsara and nirvana is free."

​From the Introduction to Maya Yoga (Finding Comfort and Ease in Enchantment)translated by Keith Dowman:

"So this short treatise of Longchenpa...provides the precepts that may instantly illuminate the buddha-reality that is our ordinary everyday experience. It asserts that we are presently under the spell of magical illusion and that by recognition of that fact we are, instantaneously, released from a conceptual cage into an enchanting reality that is pure pleasure itself. This is a manual defining human life lived as enchantment, where the ignorance of delusory samsara proves to be the insight into the Great Perfection of illusion. We begin in the heat of desirous attachment to our egoistic selves, and merely through recognition of our deluded condition, chilled out in the birthless and deathless space of reality, we find respite and release in the magical display of our everyday life." (Page 15)

​​The Twelve Vajra LaughsO Vajra Essence of the speech of Buddha, look through the perspective of self-sprung awareness and morality, philosophy and meditation are superseded! How marvelous! Regardless of any physical or verbal action, the immutable ground remains untouched by benefit or harm and free of profit or loss. HA! HA!O Vajra Speech! Look at the basic nature of things and the world never sheds its skin nor changes its color! How marvelous! Regardless of positive or negative interpretation, there is no change in reality. HA! HA!O Vajra Speech! Look at the pristine awareness that is the ubiquitous source, total emptiness, and regardless of the intention enacted it is all marvelous display! How marvelous! Whatever we do is immediately released in the unborn matrix! HA! HA!O Vajra Speech, listen again! Look through all-embracing pristine awareness, the emptiness of reality—it has been with us from time without beginning. How wonderful! Even if one person kills many others with a sharp knife, at that time neither benefit nor harm would accrue to his nature of mind. HA! HA!O Vajra Speech! Look through all-illuminating pristine awareness, our own empty cognition, and every appearance arises as a friendly helper! How marvelous! Regardless of whatever appears, nothing ever leaves the ground of being! HA! HA!O Vajra Speech-Essence! Look through the self-released gestalt of pure empty presence and the nature of the poison is its most effective antidote! How marvelous. Every passion is self-liberating! HA! HA!O Vajra Speech! Look through pure empty presence, the immaculate essence, and fruition is effortlessly accomplished of its own accord! How marvelous! Through unity, all samsara and nirvana dissolve into nondual being! HA! HA!O Vajra Speech! Look into the secret abode of the ubiquitous ground, at the super-empty essence, and effortlessly the six types of mythic beings appear in their three gnostic dimensions! How marvelous! They all become Buddha at once without practicing even an instant of meditation! HA! HA!O Vajra Speech! Look through timelessly perfected fruition, the super-emptiness of the three dimensions, and time is beyond differentiation! How marvelous! Without practicing the six perfections (paramitas), the accumulations of virtue and awareness are completed at once. HA! HA!O Vajra Speech! Look at the smoothed-out super emptiness of pure simple presence and all deliberate action arises as ornamentation! How marvelous! All discriminatory activity is released through this vision! HA! HA!O Vajra Speech! Look through ultimate super-emptiness, at the emptiness of emptiness, and all buddhas exists in an abyss! How marvelous! They have fallen due to deliberate meditation! HA! HA!O Vajra Speech! Look at matter, substantial emptiness—this is the stance where absence is believed to possess identity! How marvelous! We attain the unborn state through birth! HA! HA![Longchenpa, translated by Keith Dowman]

An unreleased event is impossible ​All experience is released, here and now, in luminous mind--An unreleased event is impossible.Samsara is released in the now,Liberated as alpha-purity;Nirvana is released in the now,Liberated as spontaneous perfection;Appearances are released in the now,Liberated in their baselessness;Life is released in the now,Liberated in its luminous heart...The levels and paths are released in the now,Liberated in the absence of … stages;View and meditation are released in the now,Liberated in nondiscrimination;Conduct is released in the now,Liberated in the All-Good;The goal is released in the now,Liberated in the absence of hope and fear;Recitation is released in the now,Liberated in nonverbal expression;Contemplation is released in the now,Liberated in the absence of a field of thought.Affirmation and negation are released in the now,Liberated in the middle way;Dogmatic belief is released in the now,Liberated in groundlessness;Authenticity is released in the now,Liberated in absence of preconception;Inauthenticity is released in the now,Liberated in indeterminacy;Karma is released in the now,Liberated in its transparency;Afflictive emotion is released in the now,Liberated thorough disinterest;Karmic proclivity is released in the now,Liberated in its baselessness;Karmic result is released in the now,Liberated in the discontinuity of experience.Catharsis is released in the now,Liberated in nonrepression;Repression is released in the now,Liberated in skylike freedom;Hanging loosely is released in the now,Liberated by the absence of anything to relax;Resting freely is released in the now,Liberated by the absence of anything brought to rest.Everything is already released in the spaciousness of the now,So any attempt to liberate anything anew is superfluous.It is pointless to try to release yourself!...Don’t trap yourself! Don’t trap yourself! Don’t cage your mind!People consensually bound in delusory space-time,Ignorant of their own intrinsic nature become corruptedAnd they stupefy themselves. …The root of delusion lies in perceiving nondelusion as an abyss.Deluded or not, the same luminous-mind matrix pertains,And therein, in the now, neither delusion nor release occurs.Reification of what arises from luminous mind as display entraps us--Both confinement and release are nondual, the mind and its field nonexistent!…In the luminous matrix that is blissful skylike root and base,… samsara is not possible.In the natural disposition, samsara and nirvana are impossible;Goal-fixation is impossible in the natural disposition;Fragmentation and partiality are impossible in the natural disposition:In the natural disposition, nothing ever crystallizes.…And thought, apprehended, groundless, unsupported, rootless – always released!An unreleased event is impossible.

[Longchenpa, translated by Keith Dowman]

Hitting the Essence in Three Words“The Special Teaching of the Wise and Glorious King”(The Root Text)

Herein is contained The Special Teaching of the Wise and Glorious King, together with its commentary.

Homage to the master!The view is Longchen Rabjam: infinite, vast expanse.Meditation is Khyentse Özer: rays of wisdom and love.Action is Gyalwé Nyugu, that of the bodhisattvas.One who practises in such a way,May well attain enlightenment in this very life.And even if not, what happiness! What joy! A la la!

1. Introducing directly the face of rigpa in itself

As for the view, Longchen Rabjam,Three statements strike the vital point.First, relax and release your mind,Neither scattered, nor concentrated, without thoughts.While resting in this even state, at ease,Suddenly let out a mind-shattering ‘phaṭ!’,Fierce, forceful and abrupt. Amazing!There is nothing there: transfixed in wonder,Struck by wonder, and yet all is transparent and clear.Fresh, pure and sudden, so beyond description:Recognize this as the pure awareness of dharmakāya.The first vital point is: introducing directly the face of rigpa in itself.

2. Decide upon one thing, and one thing only

Then, whether in a state of movement or stillness,Of anger or attachment, happiness or sorrow,All the time, in any situation,Recognize that dharmakāya you recognized before,And mother and child clear light, already acquainted, will reunite.Rest in the aspect of awareness, beyond all description.Stillness, bliss and clarity: disrupt them, again and again,Suddenly striking with the syllable of skilful means and wisdom.With no difference between meditation and post-meditation,No division between sessions and breaks,Always remain in this indivisible state.But, until stability is attained,It is vital to meditate, away from all distractions and busyness,Practising in proper meditation sessions.All the time, in any situation,Abide by the flow of what is only dharmakāya.Decide with absolute conviction that there is nothing other than this--The second vital point is: decide upon one thing, and one thing only.

3. Confidence directly in the liberation of rising thoughts

At that point, whether attachment or aversion, happiness or sorrow--All momentary thoughts, each and every one,Upon recognition, leave not a trace behind.For recognize the dharmakāya in which they are freed,And just as writing vanishes on water,Arising and liberation become natural and continuous.And whatever arises is food for the bare rigpa emptiness,Whatever stirs in the mind is the inner power of the dharmakāya king,Leaving no trace, and innately pure. What joy!The way things arise may be the same as before,But the difference lies in the way they are liberated: that’s the key.Without this, meditation is but the path of delusion,When you have it, there’s non-meditation, the state of dharmakāya--The third vital point is: confidence directly in the liberation of rising thoughts.

4. Colophon

For the View which has the three vital points,Meditation, the union of wisdom and love,Is accompanied by the Action common to all the bodhisattvas.Were all the buddhas of past, present and future to confer,No instruction would they find greater than this,Brought out as a treasure from the depth of transcendental insight,By the tertön of dharmakāya, the inner power of rigpa,Nothing like ordinary treasures of earth and stone,For it is the final testament of Garab Dorje,The essence of the wisdom mind of the three transmissions.It is entrusted to my heart disciples, sealed to be secret.It is profound in meaning, my heart’s words.It is the words of my heart, the crucial key point.This crucial point: never hold it cheap.Never let this instruction slip away from you.This is the special teaching of the wise and glorious king.